Storage element
Storage element is the abstract description for a component that stores a bit and has two states, which are logically designated with 0 and 1 or physically with low and high.
In technical informatics , this is the name of the smallest addressable unit in a main memory . In general, only memory elements of size 2 n bits with n ≥ 2 are useful. The usual size is still 8 bits , i.e. one byte . Half-bytes (4 bits = 1 nibble ) or 7 bits were also common in the past . In 16- , 32- and 64-bit systems , all bytes are usually individually addressable, so a memory element is also a byte there; sometimes only 16, 32 or 64 bit words are addressed as memory elements in systems .
One possible physical realization is the memory cell .
The technical realization takes place
- with static RAMs via flip-flop circuits
- with dynamic RAM by means of a storage capacitor and switching transistor
- for read-only memory using a number of alternatives.